The cairn

Chapter 32: On a Lady not celebrated for cleanliness—The late Lord Chancellor, The Lord Erskine.

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About This Book

A compact miscellany of short essays, anecdotes, prayers, poems, and biographical sketches that collects reflections on grief, maternal love, benevolence, virtue, taste, and historical episodes. The pieces alternate personal memories, moral aphorisms, humorous and touching anecdotes, and brief portraits of public figures, often framed as letters, epitaphs, or short narratives. Recurring themes include the effects of sorrow and joy, domestic affection, charity, the vicissitudes of fortune, and the consolations of faith and art. The tone moves between intimate recollection and light moralizing, presenting varied, self-contained vignettes meant to instruct, console, and amuse.

On a Lady not celebrated for cleanliness—The late Lord Chancellor, The Lord Erskine.

On a Lady not celebrated for her attention to cleanliness.

Accept, dear Peg, in moral lays,

The thanks a grateful heart repays;

Oft has my soul, puff’d up with pride,

The truths of sacred writ denied,

And to myself I still have said,

Sure mankind ne’er of dust was made,

Till thou, dear Peg, revers’d my creed,

And shew’d me, we are dirt indeed.